Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Boom.

It was as if a mini-sun had been summoned in the middle of the forest.

The light produced by the blast was so intense that it had the power to overwhelm one's vision, forcing them to see nothing but a white illuminance all around them.

The sound produced by the blast was equally terrifying. It could make even the Master Ranked witnesses have hearing troubles and shake their souls from within.

A domain of flame and Wrath Mana was created with Eren and Nira at the center before it quickly expanded outward. It affected the spatial fabric of the region and made mana storms appear all around.

As a delayed effect of the blast, the ground quaked, and the shockwaves spread around. A cloud of dust shaped like mushrooms soared into the sky.

The A-Ranked fire-element mana broke through its Ranking Restrictions with the help of the Wrath Mana, allowing the blast to have a similar effect as if a premium-grade S-Ranked potion bomb had been detonated on the spot.

A huge crater was created in the middle of the unnamed battlefield as an A-Ranked Grandmaster with the solid-state mana core decided to blow himself up to cover the secrets he had with him. The outcome was more dreadful than one could imagine in their wildest dreams.

Even someone who used forbidden magic and decided to implode their mana core wouldn't be able to achieve the destructive potential that Lemaar's suicide bomber attack had unleashed on Nira and her subordinates. The detonation was so unbelievable that it could only be regarded as an abstract art.

The Wrath Mana integrated into the explosion was so potent that the ground zero of the explosion would stay affected by it for years on end. People and mana beasts who roamed in this area would be affected by this Wrath Mana and go into fits of rage.

Some rare resources would be born here and mana beasts affected by the Wrath Mana in the region would be able to break through their Ranking Restrictions more easily.

But this will happen in the future. At this point, this unknown forest region was nothing but a wasteland.

One could obviously guess that Eren had integrated this mechanism into Lemaar's body from the moment he was chosen to act as one of his pseudo-avatars. This was not something one could achieve with mere spontaneous suicide attacks or using makeshift potions or artifacts.

The aftermath of Lemaar's self-detonation was disastrous for a significant portion of the forest as well as the enemies who had surrounded him. Nira's alchemy doll was the closest to Eren's self-harming blast. As such, nothing that belonged to the alchemy doll survived, and it vanished into thin air along with Lemaar's body.

Obviously, all seven of Nira's B-ranked subordinates had died because of the explosion.

Out of the three A-ranked subordinates, only one survived unscathed. One Grandmaster was severely injured, while the third one, who had just achieved her breakthrough into the A-Rank, died in the blast.

Nira and her allies didn't even realize that Eren was trying to lure them in until the very last moment. The only two surviving members of Nira's team felt a chill down their spine as they realized that they had been played by Eren.

"What… what do we do now?"

Asked the severely injured Grandmaster to the experienced Grandmaster, who had managed to deploy a defensive-type artifact at the very last moment to come out unscathed from Eren's blast. The injured Grandmaster was still feeling scared after sensing the terrifying mana signatures all around him and observing the fragmented runes of the Wrath Mana in the air squirming like bugs.

"What else can we do?" the uninjured Grandmaster shook his head and sighed. Though he tried to act cool and calm, one could tell by looking at his shaking clenched fists that he too was affected by his enemy's Individuality and brutal attack.

"This mission is a bust. We need to retreat."

He said before throwing a vial of potion towards his comrade. In the blink of an eye, the A-Ranked person disappeared from the scene, prompting the remaining one to follow in his footsteps.

'This fear… I feel like I have been turned into a mortal. I… I fucking hope I never get to meet someone as crazy as this Lemaar guy.'

The injured A-Ranker thought in fear to himself before uncorking the healing vial his partner had thrown at him.

He was willing to leave Nira's organization for good if he were to confirm that this Lemaar guy belonged to some organization and that there were others like him.

This injured Grandmaster would eventually leave Nira's side after being hinted at some truth related to Lemaar's identity and the possibility of someone pulling the strings behind him.

He would be the sole person to survive the tragedy that would befall his seniors. But this too would happen in the future.

***

Somewhere in Labh Salem.

A grand mansion surrounded by thick and ever-restless mist.

"Aaaaaaaargh!"

A painful cry erupted from the depths of the grand mansion, and the array formations laid down within the surroundings lit up abruptly.

Inside a highly protected chamber.

Nira Nightshade woke up and howled in pain. She sat up straight, waving her hand to dispel the Grand Runic Circle she was currently in, freeing herself from her physical restrictions.

Nira clenched her fists and controlled her scream, eventually restoring silence to her mansion. She then looked at her thighs and saw that they had been injured by some unknown force. Even her vagina was leaking blood as if she was suffering from some form of internal bleeding.

This was Nira's first time experiencing such an injury since ascending to the Rank of the Saint. One had to note that only a minor portion of the damage had been reflected onto her real body through her alchemy doll. Nonetheless, Nira couldn't help but curse the severe drawbacks associated with using the alchemy doll.

"That man went to great lengths to cover his tracks," Nira gritted her teeth as she mumbled to herself. "It means that the secrets he carries are also significant. I… I better get Lehan on my side to deal with him."

Nira thought before getting up from her position.

She snapped her fingers, making the superficial injuries disappear before walking in a certain direction.

Contacting Sansara Sage was troublesome, but it was a trouble she was willing to endure to confront Lemaar and the entity behind him.